LA 2015: 2016 Honda Civic Coupe Looks To Regain Lost Crown, But Where's The Manual?

by Aaron Cole

Updated: December 30th, 2020 Published: November 17th, 2015

la 2015 2016 honda civic coupe looks to regain lost crown but where s the manual

To quote the immortal Denny Green, the 2016 Honda Civic Coupe is who we thought they were. The two-door compact broke cover Tuesday before the Los Angeles Auto Show and confirmed our suspicions for the eagerly anticipated coupe.

The Civic Coupe will be powered by a pair of four cylinder engines, a 158 horsepower 2-liter and 178-horsepower 1.5-liter turbo four.

According to the automaker, the Civic Coupe is nearly 3 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the outgoing model. That translates into 8.4 cubes more of interior space and fully five more inches for rear passengers’ legs, just like the sedan.

Also like the sedan, the Coupe sports a range of trims starting with the LX all the way up to Touring. A six-speed manual is only available on lower trims, fitted to the 2-liter four. A continuously variable transmission is standard on higher grades, including the 1.5-liter turbo. The Civic Coupe will get Si and Type R treatment later on, so it would be prudent to expect row-your-own mills on those cars.

Honda announced the car would go on sale in March but did not specify a starting price.

#2016 #Civic #Coupe #Honda #LosAngelesAutoShow

Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 71 comments

Tjh8402 on Nov 19, 2015

Another source said that Honda was working on/planning to offer a manual with the turbo motor, but it wouldn't be in the initial run. I hope so but at the same time its disappointing to only see it offered in the coupe. Adulthood has dimmed my view of two door version of mass market cars. It makes sense for a Mustang to be a two door, but what do you really gain from making a Civic one? All you do is lose space/practicality/versatility. I'm saying this as a single guy who rarely carries back seat passengers but still need easily accessible cargo space. I'd level the same critique at the Accord for being V-6 manual in 2 door form only. Here's to hoping Honda recognizes the enthusiast bent of many hatchback buyers and gives them a full range of transmission, engine, and trim choices.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- S2k Chris on Nov 19, 2015
  
  There will still be a Civic Si sedan. Honda probably rightly figures there will be few people who A) want a manual 1.5T sedan and B) won't spring for the Si, so why bother?
  
  Like
- Tjh8402 on Nov 20, 2015
  
  @S2k Chris - I understand from a business perspective why there's no manual 1.5t 4 door; I'm not sure why Honda offers a manual at all. I'm just lamenting that a person is forced that you can't have practicality, efficiency/affordability, and fun all in the same package.
  
  Like
CincyDavid on Nov 19, 2015

We are a Honda family...had 2 '13 Civics and a '14 Accord until one of the Civics got totaled in a collision, have had about 10 other Honda products over the years. I would not even consider a Cruze...until I had one as a rental last weekend in FL. LTZ trim, nice upright seating position, which beats the heck out of the "sitting on the floor" posture in a Honda, nicely screwed together, 20,000 miles on it and all the trim and paint seemed to be holding up well. If I can get my bride to look at something other than another Accord, perhaps we will take a look at Chevrolet the next time we go car shopping. Not a Civic fan...no torque, compared to the Accord, and too small.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
Redapple2 Love the wheels
Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.